


and we hold on

by emavee



Series: Whumptober 2020 [18]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dick Grayson is Robin, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, these bad boys can fit so much trauma!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27093148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emavee/pseuds/emavee
Summary: In which Bruce is a big, dumb idiotWhumptober alt. prompt 2: falling
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne
Series: Whumptober 2020 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948276
Comments: 7
Kudos: 237





	and we hold on

**Author's Note:**

> the prompt is falling but no actual falling occurs :)

He’s not letting go. There’s no way in hell.

His fingers are cramping like crazy, but the aching in his arms is so much worse. His shoulders burn, the fire only growing the longer they hang here, but he refuses to let go, even as his muscles shake and threaten to give out on him. He’s a Grayson. He’s in complete control of his limbs, having trained his body to perfectly obey him since he was toddling around the circus. He’s not letting go.

Bruce needs to shut the hell up.

“Robin,” he says, voice soft and sad and not at all as comforting as he thinks it is, “you need to let me go. It’s okay.”

Dick grits his teeth and continues to ignore him. He’s not letting go of Bruce because then Bruce will _fall_ and Dick can’t let that happen. Even Batman can’t survive a thirty story drop, especially not gadgetless as he is now. They might as well be Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne hanging off the side of a building, rather than Batman and Robin.

But it doesn’t matter. Dick Grayson isn’t any more willing to let someone fall than Robin is, especially not Batman. Not Bruce.

“I’m going to pull you up,” Dick says between clenched teeth. “Just enough to grab the edge of the roof. You take it from there.”

“Chum…”

Bruce weighs more than two-hundred pounds, plus the weight of the Batman suit, and they’ve already been dangling here for a little while now. Not to mention Dick definitely screwed up something in his shoulder when he caught them—he’s trying very hard not to think about it. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to let Bruce fall just so he can pull himself up to safety. 

They’re _both_ getting out of here. Dick is going to save them both, even if Bruce doesn’t think he can. He’s always been determined to prove people wrong.

“Shut up, B,” Dick grunts out. “I’m not letting you fall, so you either let me try and pull you up or we both go down. Got it?”

He doesn’t wait for Bruce’s answer before taking a deep breath in and steeling himself for a move that is definitely going to hurt like a bitch later. 

He blacks out a little bit, a fun mix of adrenaline, pain, and exhaustion making his mind go pretty much completely blank, until the next thing he knows, it’s Bruce that’s helping haul _him_ up the last couple of inches. 

“I got you,” Bruce says as Dick tries to flounder up by himself. “I got you, chum.”

Dick blinks, realizing they’re now several feet from the edge of the roof, and he’s practically in Bruce’s lap. Ow. Everything hurts, and he doesn’t think he’s ever been this tired in his entire life. His arms won’t cooperate anymore, and neither will his eyelids, drooping downward on their own accord. 

“Got you first,” Dick mumbles sleepily, and then he’s out, slumping against Bruce’s chest.

* * *

“You were reckless tonight. And you refused to follow orders.”

“You mean the order to drop you off the side of a building?” Dick glares, although it feels a little ineffective when he’s sitting propped up in bed. Then again, Bruce doesn’t look very intimidating sitting at his bedside so maybe it balances out. “You’ll have to forgive me for not listening to the stupidest orders ever.”

“When I made you my partner, you agreed you’d listen to what I say—”

“I did listen, Bruce! I listened to you tell me to let you fall!” Dick glares at him, all the anger and lingering panic mixing, bubbling and churning in his stomach and chest. He feels a bit like he might throw up. “How dare you? How dare you ask me that?!” 

He can’t stop shaking, can’t calm himself down. All the horror he felt watching Batman disappear over the ledge is back. Why is it back? It was supposed to be over by now.

“Dick—”

“You wanted me to let you die! No, actually, you wanted me to _kill you._ You can’t just say that to me, Bruce! Don’t you… don’t you realize how important you are?”

Bruce leans forward, thumb brushing back the still slightly-sweaty bangs from Dick’s forehead. His other hand reaches out to hold Dick’s, gentle and desperate all at the same time.

“What I think you don’t realize, Dickie, is that you are far more important than I am. I was scared,” he admits and _wow,_ Batman never admits that. “I didn’t want you to get hurt. I couldn’t let you die. “If only one of us can get out of a situation like that, well, then it has to be you, Dick. It has to be you.”

“St-stop,” Dick chokes out. He feels like he can’t breathe. This is all too much. “Don’t… _Please_ don’t say that, Bruce. Don’t talk like that.”

Bruce smiles, the same sad smile he’d worn while they dangled off the top of the building and Dick hates it so much. 

“I would do anything for you, chum.” he says, voice soft. “I would die for you. In a heartbeat, kiddo.”

It’s like all the air has been sucked out of the room. His chest feels impossibly tight. “Yeah, well I would die for _you,_ B.”

The absolutely stricken expression that crosses Bruce’s face startles him. “ _No._ ” Bruce grabs Dick’s hand between his own. The touch isn’t harsh, but it isn’t gentle either. He’s squeezing just a little too tight, like he’s afraid Dick will just suddenly vanish. “Don’t say that, Dick. Please don’t ever say that. Don’t… Don’t _do_ that. You can’t.”

“And why not?” Dick challenges. His eyes and nose burn with unshed tears. “I don’t want you to die, B. If I can save you, why shouldn’t I?”

“Because I can’t lose you!” Bruce bursts out. “I just can’t.” He settles slightly, thumb gently stroking across the back of Dick’s hand. The rhythm of it is comforting, but Dick can’t really concentrate on it. 

“But it’s fine if I lose you?” Dick asks.

Bruce sighs. “It’s different, chum.”

“How?!”

“It just is! You…” Bruce hesitates for a moment, staring down at their hands with his brows pinched and jaw working before he finally looks back up with more resolve in his expression than Dick has ever seen. “Dick, you’re a child. _My_ child. My _son._ It’s my job to protect you, not the other way around. That’s why I can’t let you sacrifice yourself. Not because I don’t trust you or think you’re capable or any other ridiculous notion you’ve got running around in there.” He lightly taps Dick’s forehead twice. “It’s because you’re the kid, and I’m… I’m the parent.”

Dick stares, uncomprehending. Yeah, he’d known that in his own way, Bruce cares about him, but he’s never explicitly said _that._ Not in the entire four years Dick has been here. _Son_ and _parent_ and… and _dad_ have all been foreign words that neither of them ever dared to speak.

“Yeah,” he agrees. Bruce’s face blurs before his eyes, and when he blinks the tears fall. “Yeah, you are, B. And I don’t want to lose any more parents, especially not… not like that. It’s not _fair._ I can’t lose another dad. I—I think it would kill me.”

“Oh, sweetheart…” Bruce squeezes his hands, holding on for all he’s worth, with nearly the same ferocity that Dick had held onto him as they dangled from a building earlier. 

“Please, Bruce,” Dick whispers. “You can’t do that to me.”

“I will try my best, okay?” Bruce says. “I promise, I’ll always do everything I can to get us both out of there.”

Dick nods, knows that’s the best he’s going to get. “You better. Or else I’m just going to keep disobeying orders.”

“I know,” Bruce sighs. “I’m sorry. I should have thought of an alternative tonight.”

“That’s why you have me, B.” Dick offers him a shaky smile. “To save your butt when you have dumb, stinky ideas.”

“Stinky?” Bruce wrinkles his nose, but his amusement is plain to see. 

“Yep.” Dick yawns heavily, suddenly sleepy. “Stinky.”

Bruce shakes his head, and Dick tries not to smile like too much of an idiot under the sheer amount of fondness in his expression. Boy have his emotions been all over the place tonight. No wonder he’s so exhausted. That, and he had to haul some way-too-heavy dumdum up the side of a building.

“Tired, chum?”

Dick nods. “Will you… Do you mind…”

“Want me to stay until you fall asleep?”

Dick nods, leaning back further into his little mountain of pillows. “Yes please.”

“Sure thing, kiddo. Even if you did call me stinky.”

“Didn’t call _you_ stinky…” Dick mumbles. His eyes are pretty much closed now, but he feels Bruce pull the covers up over his shoulders. “Just your ideas… There’s a… difference.”

“Okay, chum. Get some sleep, okay? I… I’m proud of you.”

“Love you, B,” he mumbles. The world is hazy now, all cloudy and gray, fading away fast.

“Love you too, Dick.”


End file.
